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Underground > Comic Books >

Seeking Good Comics.

02:30 / 15.02.02

The opposite of the Recommended Reading thread. There is a comic to appeal to every interest, especially these days when there are more great comics available then in any other time. Can we help you find it?

What kind of comics would you be interested in? Any particular topics or genres? Please be specific, for example Classic Western (Boy's Ranch, Bulleye), Spaghetti Western (Jonah Hex, Blueberry) or just plain fucking weird Western (Vigelante, Weird Western Tales).

If necessary, draw comparisons to film, books or even music. What compares the most to the Illuminatus trilogy? Who's the Hitchcock of comics? What's the music equivalent to Feminist Sweepstakes?

Ask the Barbelith Comics Forum Hive Intelligence!

03:51 / 15.02.02

I'm especially interested in well-done non-fiction comics. Narratives are fine (like Maus), but I think what I really mean is something along the lines of those Buddhist comics whose name escapes me right now, or Clan Apis (about bees).

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

03:58 / 15.02.02

Hmm. Is From Hell considered non-fiction?

14:48 / 16.02.02

no

Good comic, but I definitely consider it fiction.

23:32 / 16.02.02

i recently -- just the other day -- discovered X-Force. I had no idea. it really blew my mind, made me feel like if they are doing something like that in mainstream comics, where are in a time when anything is possible. is there anything else out there comprabable to X-Force, whether major company or obscure publisher?

23:47 / 16.02.02

Joe Sacco´s comics could be right up your alley: PALESTINE and SAFE AREA GORAZDE are journalism pieces or you could also call them documentations of what went on in those war ridden regions. Ted Rall also does journalism comics ("2024" and "To Afghanistan and back"). If a diary about a cartoonists dreams count as non fiction then Rick Veitch´s RABID EYE would be for you. Aleksander Zograf from Serbia also has some intense dream comics out ("psychonaut" is the title, I think).

Alan Moore once did a comcis documentary about CIA actions but I don´t know in what specific context (long out of print). Stephen Bissette once did a nature documentation about the life of a tyrannosaurus rex (sadly it only lasted 4 issues). There´s also Jim Ottaviani who does comics about science.

Matthew Fluxington

23:54 / 16.02.02

I can think of comics that have had similar themes, the corporate-owned superhero (most of them crap Image comics like Youngblood), but I can't think of anything that quite matches Milligan and Allred's X-Force in how it is executed: with humor, class, strong satire, something that is really in touch with pop culture and not just playing lip service to it. To my knowledge, I don't think anything touches it on its own merits.

There was this one comic that came out a while back called Young Heroes In Love, it was put out by DC, and it had a similar lighthearted soap opera, it was about a bunch of superheroes who were more interested in the social and sexual aspects of superheroics than actually fighting crime or whatever - it was light and cute, but not anything nearly as smart and satirical of a broad range of pop culture like X-Force.

I can think of a lot of comics like that - there was another comic which I can't recall the title of (I'll look around and tell you later) that came out of a smaller company about superheroes who were really into fame and groupies, but that wasn't so great either.

00:04 / 17.02.02

So there's a comic that can appeal to everyone huh? What about fantasy? You know dragons, swords, sorcery.

The only comic I can think of that comes close is Battle Chasers and that's been discontinued since good old Madureira went off to design video games. Hell, I never bought the thing because he couldn't put out a comic two months in a row. It'd usually be four months or more before a comic came out. And people complain about Quitley.

Matthew Fluxington

00:07 / 17.02.02

Actually, Madureira used to be pretty good with deadlines back when he drew Uncanny X-Men. He was good for about 9 issues a year, at least. I liked him too - his art is *cute* and childlike. I think his art always looks like a lot of fun.

I guess once he left a regular monthly gig, his work ethic took a back seat to his Playstation...

00:12 / 17.02.02

I loved his Age of Apocalypse stuff. When I found out he was putting out a fantasy comic I thought'd be great. Of couse, I then find out his work ethic is pretty much non-existant.

Are fantasy comics just pretty much non-existant? I mean I've found some old forgotten realms stuff, conan, and when I got desperate Groo, but nothing that really interested me. There's sci-fi, mystery, hell even romance comics. Where's all the fantasy? It seems to me its a genre ripe for the picking in the comics industry.

Matthew Fluxington

00:18 / 17.02.02

I can't really help you - I know there are loads of fantasy comics, but my lifelong aversion to the genre has really made me quite ignorant about this topic. Have you ever heard of Elfquest?

Elfquest has always been considered a very big deal in fantasy comics. I know that the Crossgen company currently puts out a handful of pure fantasy genre comics, but I know next to nothing about them.

00:32 / 17.02.02

Yeah, I've heard of ElfQuest, but the last time I checked there were a great deal of ElfQuest comics out and I would have no idea where to start.

I've heard about CrossGen's line. It seems that all the comics are connected seeing as how all the main characters all have some sort of sigil that gives them mystical powers or some such thing. That makes me a little leery since it seems like a good way to have lots of big multi-title crossovers and I'm not exactly a big fan of crossovers.

Oh well, I was hoping there'd be at least one fantasy comic I hadn't heard of. Guess I'll go see what manga I can dig up since the Japanese don't see to be afraid of using swords and magic in their comics. American comics just seem to be too focused on huge muscles and overly-developed breasts.

01:24 / 17.02.02

I've never read it but I think Warlands is a fantasy comic. With Pat Lee art (covers at least).

[ 17-02-2002: Message edited by: Bio K9 ]

02:30 / 17.02.02

SMStolte - you should give Bendis' "Torso" a try. True crime comics. It was quite good.

Trijhaos - Kenzer and Company publish a Dungeons & Dragons comic book. I've not read it but it looked okay.

Zoom.

08:51 / 17.02.02

It all depoends what you mean by Non-fiction comics, the world of independent comic creators is awash with autobiography and biography, Most prominent among these is Harvey Pekar's American Splendor , Even Crumb did a series of biiographies in his Weirdo series and of his farvourite blues singers (R Crumb draws the blues) Out side of that The American underground comics had a rich strain of "cause" comics, there is a lot out there

11:50 / 17.02.02

On non-fiction: Another big-up for Joe Sacco, plus a recommendation for Eisner's Last Day(s?) in Vietnam...

14:20 / 17.02.02

For fantasy comics, you can try Age Of Bronze or Castle Waiting, not exact swords and sorcery, or Thieves and Kings, manga influenced swords and sorcery. Amy Unbounded has a fantasy setting and a trade listed in the latest Previews

On the subject of non fiction, there's a comic biography of Louis Armstrong, there's Jim Ottaviania's science books, Two Fisted Science, Dignifying Scienceand Fallout. There's a bio of Martin Luther King underway, volume one and volume two out so far. And didn't Kubert senior do Fax From Sarajevo? And Rick Geary is doing non fiction stuff too. And there's Howard Cruse's Stuck Rubber Baby

[ 17-02-2002: Message edited by: Steve Block ]

14:27 / 17.02.02

technically speaking, whie stuck rubber baby has a strong biographical influence it is still fiction (a fact the Howard cruise takes great pains to point out in his intro/epilogue thing in the book...)

it is still damn good though,

Equally for Historical fiction you could do far worse than check out Jason Lute's magnificent comic, Berlin, a fantastically well drawn and touching portrayal of the the lives and loves of Berlin and her inhabiotants between the wars...

14:44 / 17.02.02

Just a link for Berlin, and a second for the recommendation.

09:40 / 20.02.02

when i was a wee lad, i loved elfquest. i started buying them from the very first, when they came out 4 issues every year. i guess it must have taken about 5 years for the first complete story to unfold... and that's about as much of it as i every read. it was really great though -- im not into fantasy now at all but im certain that there's still some absolutely perfect craft in elfquest. back in the day, they put out big supersized trades that each collected 5 issues -- so i'd recommend, naturally, buying the 1st 4 books. from a quick look, it seems there's some approximation of that format starting with this volume.

Mr insensitive

09:49 / 20.02.02

Queen and Country, written by Greg Rucka. Fantastic stuff, really - well worth the price of admission, as is pretty much anything Oni put to press.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

09:49 / 20.02.02

I don't read them, but a lot of the gamers I know are very into the stuff from Crossgen. They say it has a lot of the common fantasy elemenets and some very nice art. I find the books a bit bland, but I dislike most of their writers.

As for non-fiction, Fortune and Glory by Bendis is about the funniest book on Hollywood I've ever read. If you don't like it, after this recommendation, let me know and I'll buy it from you.

15:24 / 20.02.02

Yeah, If your into that swashbuckler fantasy stuff, Crossgen is not bad. I've read a few because I have a friend or two that used to draw for them. The art is good, production is good, they come out on time. Not my thing though.

Solitare Rose, I've got Fortune and Glory on special order but it has not came in yet. I've heard its very funny.

My favorite comics right now are THB and anything Paul Pope does. His stuff does not come out very often though. Anyone have any suggestions of comics in similar style and subject matter. (Similar quality?)

10:18 / 21.02.02

scott morse might do you. have you read soulwind? (click on the indiv. links) morse's art style is as experimental and distinctive. (he tries for a different style in each book, yet remains unmistakable.